Jim Pader, second from left, with his daughter, Olga Suzanna Lampkin, son Jimmy Pader, and friend Sarah Lowell, on the summit of Mount Whitney in August.

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Now in his third, or maybe fourth, retirement, Pader, who has worked as a radio operator in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, a charter boat captain on the Mississippi River, an FAA radar system specialist, an orange grower, among other occupations, is ready to add "late-blooming mountaineer" to his long list of life's accomplishments.

On Aug. 14, days before turning 83, Franklin resident Pader became the oldest person to summit Mount Whitney in one day, after his fourth attempt in eight years. At 14,505 feet elevation, ...